Combined door latch and stop



Sept. 26, 1961 K. H. ERICKSON COMBINED DOOR LATCH AND STOP Filed Dec.29, 1958 MVQMTQQ 96cm) Q4. f/m ckgom 4, 4;, Mimi/ (A v ew: Y../"

3,001,811 Patented Sept. 26, 1961 United States Patent Qfiice 3,001,811V COMBINED DOOR LATCH AND STOP Karl H. Erickson, Rockford,Ill.,-assignor to Amerock Corporation, Rockford, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Dec. 29, 1958, Ser..No. 783,385

1 Claim. (Cl. 292-275) This invention relates to a stop for cabinetdoors and particularly to a stop of the type having a rod with one endpivotally connected to the door and the other end slidably supported onthe cabinet frame by a guide which coacts with the rod to limit theopening movement of the door.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a door stop of theabove character in which the parts not only act as a stop for the doorbut also serve to latch the door in the closed position.

A more detailed object is to form enlargements adjacent the oppositeends of the rod and to arrange the enlargement at the inner end tocooperate with the guide and serve as a latch for the door while theouter enlargement abuts the guide when the door is open and acts as astop.

The invention also resides in the novel construction of the guidewhereby the guide can be mounted easily in the frame for turningrelative to the frame about an up right axis.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of amedicine cabinet having a door stop embodying the novel features of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the cabinet showing the door in the opened andclosed positions.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the rod, guide and bracket.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the manner of mountingthe guide in the frame.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 in FIG. 5.

For purposes of illustration, the present invention is shown inconnection with a wall cabinet 10, such as a medicine cabinet or thelike, having a door 11 supported on a frame 12 to swing about a verticalaxis. The opening and closing movements of the door 11 are controlled bya check rod 13 which is supported by the cabinet frame with one endconnected to the door.

The invention is adapted for use with shallow cabinets, such as theconventional medicine cabinet, by using a curved rod 14 which extendsalong the rear wall 15 of the cabinet when the door is closed but hassufficient length to permit the door to be opened to a positionsubstantially perpendicular with the frame. To enable the rod 14 toswing relative to the door 11 and thus be supported from a fixed pointon the cabinet frame, the connection between the rod and the door ispivoted about a second vertical axis parallel to the axis of the door.

The pivotal connection between the rod and the door is obtained throughthe medium of a bracket 16 having flanges 17 and 18 formed on each endto extend laterally from the bracket in opposite directions. The bracket16 is fixed on the door 11 by means of a bolt 19 which passes throughthe bracket and is threaded into the door. The flange 17 formed on oneend of the bracket 16 projects into a slot 20 formed in the door toprevent the bracket from turning about the bolt 19 while the flange 18formed on the other end of the bracket 16 projects outwardly from theplane of the door 11 and is adapted to be connected to the rod 13. Theend 21 of the rod is flattened and journaled on the bracket by a pivotpin 22 inserted through the bracket 16 and the flattened end 21 of therod 14.

The rod is slidably supported in an opening 23 formed in a guide 24mounted in and projecting downwardly from the top wall 25 of the cabinetframe 12. The guide 24 is journaled in the frame 12 so as to enable theguide to be turned about a fixed vertical axis by the movements of therod upon opening or closingthe door.

Tht outward swinging of the door 11 is limited by an enlargement 33formed on the free end of the rod to constitute an abutment whichengages the guide when the door is opened. The enlargement 33 is made byflattening the end of the rod so that a straight edge 34 extendslaterally outwardly from each side of the rod. To insure that the guide24 will not slip past the abutment, notches 35 are formed in thestraight edge 34 on either side of the rod to receive the guide andprevent it from sliding 7 over the enlarged end.

The present invention contemplates a novel construction of the rod 14and the guide 24 whereby the two coact not only to limit the outwardmovement of the door but also to latch the door in the closed position.To this end, the guide is constructed so that the opening 23 isresiliently expandable and a second enlargement 36 is formed adjacentthe inner end of the rod. Thus, as the door is closed, the enlargement36 expands the opening 23 and slides through the latter and, when thedoor reaches the closed position, the opening contracts behind theenlargement and prevents the door from being accidentally opened.

To enable the opening 23 to expand and slide past the enlargement 36,the guide 24 is constructed with two downwardly projecting curvedfingers 32 which substantially surround and closely engage the rod. Theguide is made of a resilient material such as molded nylon which permitsthe fingers 32 to be spread apart to expand the opening 23 and to snapback into place when the force is removed.

As the door 11 is closed, the rod 14 slips through the fingers 32 of theguide bringing the enlarged portion 36 of the rod in contact with thefingers. Upon further movement of the door the resilient fingers yieldand are cammed apart as the enlarged portion enters between them. Thefingers 32 then close behind the enlargement 36 as it passes throughthereby latching the door 11. Sufficient force is required upon openingthe door 11 to move the fingers B2 apart so that the enlarged portion 36of the rod can pass through, this force being great enough to preventaccidental opening of the door.

The enlargement 36 is shaped so that less force is required to close thedoor than is required to open it. For this purpose, the enlargement isformed with a cross section increasing gradually from the free end tothe widest point and then returning abruptly to the cross section of therod. This may be achieved by deforming the rod, as by a stampingoperation, to produce a plurality of angularly spaced ears 36 whichtogether provide the desired cross section.

Another aspect of the present invention is the simple manner of mountingthe guide 24 on the frame 12 so as to facilitate its assembly on thecabinet. To this end, the guide is mounted in an opening which is in theframe, and consists of a circular hole 26 having a rectangular slot 27contiguous therewith and formed along the diameter of the hole with thelength of the slot being greater than the diameter. As the door 11 isopened and closed, the guide 24 turns about the axis of the opening on acircular boss 28 formed integrally with the guide and disposed in thecircular hole 26. Formed on the upper end of the circular boss 28 is arectangular enlargement 29 having substantially the same dimensions asthe slot 27 and forming a flange 30 operable to be inserted through theslot 27 and turned so as to bear again the top of the frame to hold theguide 24 in position. Normal movements of the door and the rod 14 turnthe guide 24 through a predetermined angle and the slot 27 in thecabinet frame is so positioned that, during this normal movement, therectangular enlargement 29 does not become aligned with the slot therebypreventing disengagement of the guide from the frame.

Upward movement of the guide 24relative to the frame 12 is prevented bya circular flange 31 formed integrally with the guide beneath thecircular boss 28 so as to bear against the bottom of the frame. Thediameter of the flange 31 is larger than the length of the slot 27 andthus the flange completely covers the opening in the frame.

It will be seen that the arrangement described above enables both thechecking and latching of a cabinet door to be accomplished through themedium of a single device which is inexpensive to manufacture and simpleto assemble on the cabinet. The resilient qualifies of the guide 24,whereby it returns to its original configuration after being deformed bythe enlargement 36 insures positive latching of the door by the samemeans used to check the outward movement of the door.

I claim as my invention:

The combination of a door adapted to swing about a predetermined axis, aframe supporting said door and having top, bottom and side walls, saidtop wall having a circular opening with a rectangular slot contiguoustherewith extending along the diameter and having a length greater thanthe diameter, a curved rod pivotally connected to said door to swingrelative to said door about a second and parallel axis, a guide having acircular portion to fit into said opening and a rectangular flange toproject throu@ said slot and to bear against the top of the framethereby to journal said guide in said frame to turn through apredetermined angle about a third and'parallel axis, said slot beingdisposed outside'of the'predeterrnined angle to prevent disengagement ofthe guide from the frame, two downwardly projecting fingers formedintegral with said guide and stradding said rod to support the rod forendwise sliding, an enlargement formed on the free end of the rod toconstitute an abutment coacting with said guide to check the outwardmovement of the door, and a second enlargement on said rod spaced fromsaid door so that said guide is disposed between said door and thesecond enlargement and abutting the second enlargement when the door isin the closed position, said fingers being resilient to yield and passover said second enlargement as the door is closed and to snap behindsaid second enlargement thereby to hold the door closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS112,210 Bird Feb. 28, 1871 346,194 Coultaus July 27, 1886 2,669,475Kinker Feb. 16, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 246.993 Great Britain Feb. 11, 1926

